He will jump into fire and water with knowledge

For future firefighters-rescuers, it will not be enough for them to be 25 years old at the time of their first employment, to have completed at least three years of high school, to have passed the state exam and to be mentally and physically healthy. In addition to these general conditions, in the future they will also have to undergo training - theoretical and practical, and prove the acquired knowledge and skills in a test.

"The fact that someone can't run and get to the second floor has never been checked before. And such a man arrives today in a protection service, where he must also be a diver, alpinist, speleologist, firefighter for closed spaces... At the moment he enters the service, it is understood that he knows all this, and unfortunately, all this he has so far no one was studying, nor was anyone asking him to do so".

This is how the interviewees of "Vijesti" describe the situation in the protection services. Radomir Šćepanović, head of the Directorate for Operational Affairs, and Milan Radovic, head of the Department for Training and Operational Activities in the Protection and Rescue Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP).

Šćepanović and Radović spoke to "Vijesti" about the need to establish a National Training Center for Protection and Rescue, which was recently opened in Podgorica, and the planned activities and organization of protection services in general.

They will train firefighters and volunteers

Why the establishment of a training center is perhaps best described by realistic scenarios. The apartment is burning. The duty commander has only a young firefighter available at that moment and must send him to the field. The firefighter will go, eager to show off and prove himself, and he may not yet know how to use the equipment. He is at risk of suffocation. The apartment will burn down, the firefighter will possibly get hurt, and the commander will be responsible.

"And what did we do? Aware that a similar scenario is very real in practice, in the Directorate for Protection and Rescue, at the time of its formation ten years ago, we initiated the establishment and training center, but also the creation of legal prerequisites, which would better regulate the field of protection and rescue, in the part that refers to the education of future staff", the interlocutors of "Vijesti" explain.

The national training center is located in a part of the building of the Podgorica Protection and Rescue Service, in the Old Airport neighborhood. The space of over 1.400 square meters was given to the MUP for 20 years, by the decision of the Assembly of the capital, during the time of the minister Suad Nuhodžić.

Šćepanović and Radović explain that the organization of the training center space was designed based on the data that there are about 600 firefighters in Montenegro and that these are the needs of the system. They also say that its purpose is not to be used only for professional firefighters, but also for training for voluntary and specialist units, volunteers...

The National Training Center for Protection and Rescue has eight dormitories, with a capacity of 32 beds. There are also eight offices for the administrative part, for the needs of Directorate officials and instructors who would be hired for training. There is also a conference hall with 40 seats, the capacity of which can be increased to 70, according to the interlocutors. There are also three classrooms with 32 to 35 seats each, a dining room for about 40 people, toilets for people who are in accommodation, but also common rooms. for different purposes - equipment presentation, media conferences...

Although it has only just been officially opened, the training center has already hosted the first participants from Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), who were trained for searches in rural areas, and on November 28, the center will host training for indoor fire instructors. space. This training is organized for the needs of Montenegro, and the plan is to train Montenegrin firefighters-rescuers through it as instructors for the practical part, when professional training for the profession of firefighter-rescuer officially begins.

Such a program was submitted to the Center for Vocational Education in 2019, and Radović and Šćepanović expect it to be verified soon.

As they say, they detected the problem of education of members of the protection services ten years ago, when the department for emergency situations was founded.

"Many factors had to be connected, and the most important one - to find space for the administrative part, that is, space for the implementation of the theoretical part of the training, and for the practical part of the training. "Establishing a training center is quite an expensive story, so it was difficult to do it with the funds that the Directorate for Protection and Rescue had at its disposal every year," says Radović and adds that in the meantime, all these years, the problem of education was solved by firefighter-rescuers , through European Union (EU) projects sent to international training abroad. Some exercises, such as MNE Quake, the 2014 earthquake rescue exercise, he reminds, were also organized in Montenegro...

According to Radović, 1.667 firefighters-rescuers have gone through various types of training over the past decade.

In addition to the lack of space for training, the interlocutors add, regulations are also a problem.

"Our Law on Protection and Rescue recognizes a firefighter-rescuer as someone who is younger than 25 years old, who is psychophysically healthy and who has at least a third-level professional education, without the obligation to be educated before entering the protection service," says Radović.

He reminds that municipalities have a legal obligation to take into account the education of personnel in the protection services, but that not all of them had the opportunity to do so...

"Especially in the less developed municipalities in the north, where practically we have people who have not received any training and are firefighters", he says and adds that it is in the interest of everyone in the country that all firefighters are well trained, and that this is one of the main motives. to enter into the process of standards for the profession of firefighter-rescuer, female firefighter-rescuer and define the training program for that profession.

Training for three months, testing claustrophobia in a special maze

The program envisages training lasting three months, of 300 hours, of which 201 are practical and 99 are theoretical.

The theoretical classes, the interlocutors say, will take place in the premises of the National Training Center at the Old Airport. This part of the training includes familiarization with the general concepts of the protection and rescue system, familiarization with the rules of the service, first aid, providing assistance to the endangered and injured population, fire extinguishing and rescue during a fire, rescue from ruins, landslides and snow avalanches, rescue during floods and other natural disasters, rescue in mountains and canyons, rescue in the event of military and other accidents, rescue in the event of accidents in civil aviation, and work in the dispatch center according to the needs of the service...

Practical classes will be organized at the training grounds of the Directorate in the settlement of Rogami, in Podgorica. Radović and Šćepanović explain that there are working points for fires in closed and open spaces, earthquakes, traffic accidents, floods, water rescue...

With a provided space for conducting theoretical classes, a training ground for practical training, a ready professional training program and a defined occupational standard, according to "Vijesti" interlocutors, Montenegro can now conduct basic training for firefighters-rescuers.

"During three months they will acquire basic knowledge, but this does not mean that the person has perfected himself. Through training, they only acquired the prerequisite to be able to enter the service of protection and rescue. It is their legal obligation, both now and in the future, to undergo some types of professional training, to be trained on a daily basis. It's training, just like football players. Dejan Savicevic was a genius, but he wouldn't be what he is if he didn't train every day. These are skills that are quickly forgotten. A firefighter-rescuer is educated while he is alive," says Šćepanović.

The interlocutors add that the completed training will not oblige anyone to remain in the service.

"That job cannot be done by a man who is not above all a humanist, who is not ready to sacrifice his life to save someone else. If he is not like that, he will quickly jump out of the system," says Radović.

Whether they are ready for this responsible occupation, the interlocutors say, will become clear to every training participant during work at the training ground.

"We created a training ground to test claustrophobia, it's a labyrinth, in which there is total darkness, with different challenges and obstacles, where a person has to find his way in a narrow space under full firefighting equipment, wherever he goes he will hit, there is no way out. And if a person is not psychologically and mentally strong, and he is not for a firefighter, because he will have such a situation in reality, it is a test, so there will certainly be people who will say this is not for me", says Šćepanović.

The interlocutors estimate that, in relation to the needs of Montenegro, up to two trainings will be organized in the National Training Center for Protection and Rescue during the year.

"If we train 60 people a year, it will be quite enough for our system. If more is needed, of course it can be done," Šćepanović says.

Radović also reminded that by the end of the year, around 150 members of the protection service will exercise their right to pension and that these people should be replaced.

"These are people who have spent 20, 25, 30 years in the service. Even if we hire young and capable staff, it is difficult to replace that experience", he said.

Montenegro can also host trainings for the needs of other countries, because, he adds, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia do not have similar centers.

The interlocutors also remind that the current Law on Protection and Rescue also obliges the Red Cross, radio amateurs, divers, speleologists, rafters, etc., as well as voluntary, civil protection units and enterprise units to attend training.

"All these people need to undergo basic protection and rescue training, and then specialist training closely related to their specialties," explains Radović.

The interlocutors also say that it has not yet been defined whether the training for firefighters-rescuers will be organized before or after they already become part of a protection and rescue service.

"We have to take a look at the experiences of other countries - whether the training takes place before or after establishing an employment relationship... In Slovenia, you first have to get professional training, get a certificate/license that you are trained as a firefighter-rescuer, and then you can apply for a job." Šćepanović explains.

According to him, the new regulations will not apply to firefighters-rescuers who are already employed.

The Directorate has already initiated changes to the law, but their adoption, say the interlocutors, could be prolonged by the current political situation. They expect to be adopted by the first, second quarter of next year at the latest.

The training center was established through the "Safe together" project, which was implemented by the Directorate for Protection and Rescue as a leading partner in cooperation with the cities of Gradiška (BiH) and Daruvar (Croatia).

The project is implemented within the cross-border program Intereg, IPA, Croatia-BiH-Montenegro, the total value of which is about 1,2 million euros, of which the total budget of the Directorate was about 519.000, whereby 85 percent, or about 440.000 euros, is covered from EU funds.

Training is expensive, but necessary

The organization of a practical exercise, according to "Vijesti" interlocutors, is neither simple nor cheap.

Thus, they add, only for simulating a traffic accident, at least two vehicles must be provided.

"Which are complete, they don't have to be able to start with the key, but they have to have everything, wheels, windows, doors, engine... You need to get those two vehicles, cut them up, push them down some side, where the firemen will stabilize them, to they are pulled out and returned to the starting point. In order to bring those vehicles, you have to hire a crane to place those vehicles or when everything is finished to return them, to clean the field... And this is done for every new exercise", they explain and add that the price also depends on the number teams, number of people.

They estimate that at least 10 to 15 thousand euros are necessary for the organization of the exercise.

"The whole system is an expensive toy, but it is necessary for those people to be able to react in real situations in the right way tomorrow".

They also point out that during the exercise, not only firefighters-sleepers are engaged.

"Then you failed the exercise. Emergency doctors, the Red Cross, probably radio amateurs must also come," said Radović and Šćepanović.

Good will is not always the best help

Interlocutors from the Directorate for Protection and Rescue say that the willingness to help is not always the best help, and that a certain amount of experience is also necessary in the field.

"When we had a state of emergency in 2012, we had a massive response from citizens, everyone wanted to help, to rescue, and in fact they did us a disservice, you can't send anyone to Kuče to rescue someone from the snow, without going for them. We had a situation, we pulled the man from the train and dropped him by helicopter to Bioče, he begged to see his mother, to bring her something. When the helicopter landed him in front of the house, he got stuck in the snow, climbed a plum tree, and his 90-year-old mother saved him," says Šćepanović.

For this reason, he says, training for the general population is also necessary, so the doors of the training center will be open to citizens who will be able to learn about, for example, firefighting in an open space and how to use a backpack, uniform, how to put on a mask .

Trainings are also possible for non-governmental organizations, for schools... Šćepanović also said that the law foresees a cross-curricular program for protection and rescue and that the Directorate's lecturers were training teachers in schools.

"The program exists, but it has not taken off, because it represents another obligation for the teacher who is not paid for it... But we have a good basis to bring teachers to the center and provide them with greater knowledge," he said.